The Round Ball Game - II

[Lat-Literal]

As far as I'm aware, nobody has described Accrington Stanley's defeat of Ipswich Town as a giant-killing … more a case of putting-a-bunch-of-dwarves-out-of-their-misery. At least they can now concentrate on developing their plans for League 1 next season.

Yes - you are right. It was all about the defeat of Leicester and Fulham in the programme I heard. Agree with Teamsaint and BBM in that I have recently acquired Ipswich as one of my associative clubs via new found family connections (much as a footballer has a right to be sympathetic to eight teams if he played for them and often does). What shocked me when I was there in autumn was the very obvious lack of money. TV screens in the bar area not working. No hot food available. It was so sad as it oozes with history. The statues - and so on.

Arsenal and York : plus Newcastle, Ipswich, Charlton, Exeter and Sheffield Wednesday : if I do return from retirement, possibly initially Southampton.

Which player was at the highest number of teams - Carlos Kaiser?

[LMcD]

Yes - you are right. It was all about the defeat of Leicester and Fulham in the programme I heard. Agree with Teamsaint and BBM in that I have recently acquired Ipswich as one of my associative clubs via new found family connections (much as a footballer has a right to be sympathetic to eight teams if he played for them and often does). What shocked me when I was there in autumn was the very obvious lack of money. TV screens in the bar area not working. No hot food available. It was so sad as it oozes with history. The statues - and so on.

Arsenal and York : plus Newcastle, Ipswich, Charlton, Exeter and Sheffield Wednesday : if I do return from retirement, possibly initially Southampton.

Which player was at the highest number of teams - Carlos Kaiser?

I still keep an eye on Southampton's (mis)fortunes, having been to The Dell quite often when working and then studying in Southampton. I was at Portman Road, together with another 28,931 fans when they won the old Division 1 title. The headmaster allowed me to submit a congratulatory article to the school magazine - 'even though we are of course a rugby-playing school'
(Sheffield United fans obviously found something better to do, judging by the acres of empty seats...sad to see such a decline in interest in this competition).

[cloughie]

While it would be churlish to deny FA Cup 'giant-killers' their moment of glory, isn't it the case that Premier League and Championship teams often rest many of their 'stars' for this competition? I read, for example, that Sheffield United made 10 changes from last week's starting XI and that Cardiff also fielded a team from which many of their top players were missing - at least to start with.
I gather that one of the big stories from the 3rd round is that a substituted Manchester United went and sat in the wrong seat and was asked to move.

I think one of the worst aspects of fielding vastly changed sides is the managers’ expectations of a thrown together side who have never played together as a team and then their disgust at their non-delivery and comments that they have been given their chance and failed against a lower division side (who have played their socks and everthing else off to get a result). Perhaps they need a reality check - the Blades manager a good example this weekend!

[teamsaint]

I doubt if it will console Alison much, or indeed at all, but the Foxes efforts at Newport certainly made our draw at Derby look more respectable.

What on earth was Allbrighton thinking of ?

Sad to see the way the cup has gone really, although it still has a bit of magic at times. Nothing like the great days when the first Saturday in Jan was probably the best day of the season.
Well, until kick off anyway .......!!

[Edgy 2]

I don’t understand why a club like Leicester,who probably won’t finish top 4 or be relegated,didn’t have a real go at the FA Cup

[teamsaint]

I don’t understand why a club like Leicester,who probably won’t finish top 4 or be relegated,didn’t have a real go at the FA Cup

Silly, Isn't it ? Saints fans complained about this a lot when we were comfortably in the top half. Nobody really wants to qualify for the Europa league.

Managers are under a bit of pressure to get the extra prize money for PL places, but a run to a cup semi or final is pretty handy both for prestige and cash.

But what do we know ?

[gurnemanz]

I don’t understand why a club like Leicester,who probably won’t finish top 4 or be relegated,didn’t have a real go at the FA Cup

Hi Edgy. Welcome back. A very irate Leicester fan on 606 made this point vehemently, also pointing out that the team they did put out should still have won but players were not totally up for it and that fans making the away trip at an awkward time were badly let down and should be compensated.

[LMcD]

I suspect that managers/owners don't want to run the risk of any of their best players being injured, or increasing the chance of 'burn-out', in a competition that MIGHT get you into the Europa League. I agree that fans are being shamefully treated. They think they've been offered a rare chance to see top players in top teams and will more likely end up watching what is virtually a second eleven, and the bigger the opposing team. the more likely this is to happen. Some years ago, Ipswich beat Manchester United but as far as I can recollect 10 of the visitors' starting 11 were not regular first-team players One sign of the importance of TV money is that well under half this year's 3rd round fixtures kicked off at 3.00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.

[Bryn]

There are reports today of accusations of in-game racism in a women's football game. The claim is that "monkey noises" were heard from an opposing player. What is it about this game's players and supporters that they appear to regard 'monkey noises' or eating bananas or making as being exclusively associated with people of a relatively higher concentration of melanin in their skin? I am very fond of bananas and Arthur Dent is referred to as "your monkey" in HHGTTG. Both I and the fictional Arthur Dent are of Caucasian complexion. What's it all about? Is it just a case of football associated racists being severely intellectually challenged?

[cloughie]

I suspect that managers/owners don't want to run the risk of any of their best players being injured, or increasing the chance of 'burn-out', in a competition that MIGHT get you into the Europa League. I agree that fans are being shamefully treated. They think they've been offered a rare chance to see top players in top teams and will more likely end up watching what is virtually a second eleven, and the bigger the opposing team. the more likely this is to happen. Some years ago, Ipswich beat Manchester United but as far as I can recollect 10 of the visitors' starting 11 were not regular first-team players One sign of the importance of TV money is that well under half this year's 3rd round fixtures kicked off at 3.00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.

Ironical - I wonder. The Europa League is itself a carrier of burnout - it did for Ipswich last time they were in the Prem, and may be a contributor to Burnley’s current league position!

[Lat-Literal]

I still keep an eye on Southampton's (mis)fortunes, having been to The Dell quite often when working and then studying in Southampton. I was at Portman Road, together with another 28,931 fans when they won the old Division 1 title. The headmaster allowed me to submit a congratulatory article to the school magazine - 'even though we are of course a rugby-playing school'
(Sheffield United fans obviously found something better to do, judging by the acres of empty seats...sad to see such a decline in interest in this competition).

"Even though we are of course a rugby-playing school"...…. that sounds familiar. You (council people, often) can play football if you have to "even though we are of course a rugby-playing school". There wasn't a Christmas Shopping Day but rather a Varsity Match Day late in the year. Time off to watch Oxford v Cambridge when in reality most headed off to W H Smiths etc. Had conservatism with a small "c" continued on its fascinating path of "merchandise is vulgar" we would all be in a different place now, probably for better and for worse. Funnily enough, I was looking at Six Nations tickets today, never having been to professional rugby. I was considering it but now I am not as the prices are far higher than for opera.

In the case of Ipswich you did very well by mentioning the Division 1 title rather than, say, the 1978 FA Cup Final which (but only historically) is where inner conflict could arise.

[Lat-Literal]

There are reports today of accusations of in-game racism in a women's football game. The claim is that "monkey noises" were heard from an opposing player. What is it about this game's players and supporters that they appear to regard 'monkey noises' or eating bananas or making as being exclusively associated with people of a relatively higher concentration of melanin in their skin? I am very fond of bananas and Arthur Dent is referred to as "your monkey" in HHGTTG. Both I and the fictional Arthur Dent are of Caucasian complexion. What's it all about? Is it just a case of football associated racists being severely intellectually challenged?

There are at least three things here, if not more and it is probably more. One, I was listening to an ex footballer turned commentator of an advanced age. He was recalling how in the days when everyone playing was white and British (a period that is easily in most of our lifetimes), anything was deemed by many players permissible so as to win (though not by officials). Ginger hair, shortness, too tall, overweight, questions about sexuality, whether the parents were married at the time of birth.....all of these things were considered to be reasonable in competitiveness as a nasty sort of whisper in the ear. Political correctness arrives - when it is in a measured form, which means picking up on anything genuine, rightly in my humble opinion. It coincides with greater diversity : sporting, societal.

But shortly afterwards in comes point two. A massive and arguably grotesque increase in the money involved in the "game". We now have a situation in which there are many complaints monthly at the Sunday league children's level. These are about parents of those children charging onto the pitch and threatening the referee. This was highlighted by 5 Live recently when a 15 year old referee of much younger children was in the studio with his mother to talk about having been on the end of such threats from the 30-somethings and being wholly isolated in that frightening scenario. This, I believe, is linked deep down to the air of unreality in much of society now. The sort of unreality in which many a Dad or Mum sees in their child a future Wayne Rooney which in turn equates to "cash cow" and a who is any 15 year old referee to come between the sheer unlikelihood of that occurring and their parallel dream world? In this heated sort of environment, racism etc is coming back too.

Three is more political so I won't comment much. But historically where there is a certain kind of disgruntlement with associated aggro, it has gathered some on the football fringes. These things come and go. Probably at the current time, it is coming more than it is going. The overall atmosphere at most football matches is still like a walk in the park compared with that in the 1970s/1980s. The media seizes, not wrongly, on the comparatively rare.

Incidentally, such is my innocence that there was a period many decades ago when I saw people carrying inflatable bananas. They appeared to be like fun party things. It was the time of "e" and the second summer of love. I bought one. I saw them like a funny hat or those recent unicorns in the pool. Then immediately afterwards there was a lot of discussion about their racist connotations. I was mortified and binned it. But I am still not entirely convinced that they were dodgy in the first place. They might have been initially sending up racism - or just intended as fun. Can anyone recall how it was generally? Does anyone know?

[zola]

On a lighter note than inflatable bananas and their possible negative connotations, I vividly remember the remarkable sight at a Wimbledon v Grimsby FA Cup tie at the old Plough Lane, where the away end was full of people waving inflatable fish.

[Stanfordian]

On a lighter note than inflatable bananas and their possible negative connotations, I vividly remember the remarkable sight at a Wimbledon v Grimsby FA Cup tie at the old Plough Lane, where the away end was full of people waving inflatable fish.

At Fleetwood Town games it's 'Cod Army' do that too.

[Lat-Literal]

On a lighter note than inflatable bananas and their possible negative connotations, I vividly remember the remarkable sight at a Wimbledon v Grimsby FA Cup tie at the old Plough Lane, where the away end was full of people waving inflatable fish.

At Fleetwood Town games it's 'Cod Army' do that too.

That was precisely my mindset.

I have been wanting an inflatable unicorn ever since the summer.

Now I will have to look into the fish thing.

Both are coastal clubs too.

Never Mind the Pollocks - We're the Cod Army:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ceqflEYDow